MARY Catherine of PALATKA

MARY Catherine influenced her State’s 19^th century history not only from her PALATKA home, but in ST AUGUSTINE and ORLANDO as well. At the risk of repeating myself, I’ll say again, excluding women from the amazing story of Florida’s founding risks telling an incomplete history of the 27^th State. Mary Catherine of PALATKA is merely one example.

Robert R. & Mary C. REID residence, Palatka, Florida

104 distinct ORLANDO 1880s deeds, for example, were not official until after MARY C of Palatka had affixed her signature. And while history did record her husband failing in 1850 to develop PALATKA, historians neglected to mention the town venture ultimately prospered thanks to MARY Catherine’s brother-in-law, Henry R. TEASDALE. Mary C’s family clearly played an important role in the story of early Florida.

Signature of 1880 ORLANDO, Florida deed for land sale

Born 1825, Mary C was a native of America’s oldest city and a daughter of St. Augustine merchant Pedro J. L. BENET. Of Spanish descent, the Benet family was mentioned in an 1895 journal as “respected St. Augustine citizens.” Mary Catherine BENET married on the 22^nd of February, 1850, to Robert R. REID III. Born at Augusta, Georgia, Reid was the son of Florida’s Territorial Governor, Robert R. Reid II, who had died while in Tallahassee in 1841 of Yellow Fever.

Robert & Mary Catherine (BENET) REID relocated the year of their marriage, settling 30 miles west of St. Augustine at a wilderness trading post on the St. Johns River.

Said to mean “crossing over,” PALATKA was a remote community of fewer than 500 in 1850. Despite losing $5,000 in developing the town, the Reid’s made Palatka a permanent home. All seven of their known children were born at Palatka.

After going bankrupt, Robert R. Reid III started over, entering a partnership with Henry R. TEASDALE, husband of Estanislada BENET, Mary Catherine’s younger sister. The new business, Merchants Teasdale & Reid, flourished, and became an important player in the story 19^th century Palatka.

As Florida struggled to rebuild during the wake of America’s Civil War, Teasdale & Reid, in 1867, acquired 120 remote acres well to the south of Palatka. The successful bid of $900 was made to the Orange County Sheriff on the courthouse steps at Orlando. The acreage itself surrounded the tiny log cabin courthouse.

Their investment in Village of Orlando sat idle for the next 13 years before Robert & Mary Catherine (Benet) Reid, “of Palatka, Putnam County, Florida,” platted 80 of the 120 acres in 1880 as an addition to the four (4) acre village of ORLANDO.

The first train to Orlando arrived November 11, 1880, stopping at a depot built on acreage donated by, “Robert R. Reid, and MARY C. REID his wife.” The Reid’s sold 103 parcels, with each and every deed being signed by both Robert and Mary C Reid.

On the 29^th of October, 1889, Mary Catherine (BENET) REID died at her Palatka home.

The role of women in history is not easily found, but it’s a challenge gladly undertaken by the author of CitrusLAND books. The true-life American story, including the story of Florida, can only be told through the lineal descendants of the earliest pioneers, men and women alike. Each of twelve chapters in my CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise, Second Edition, begins with a dedication to and brief biography of a central Florida Frontierswoman. In addition, the Reid family’s involvement in the development of Orlando is detailed in my First Road to Orlando.

Telling the story of Florida through its people, CitrusLAND is described in detail at my website: www.croninbooks.com

CitrusLAND books are available at BOOKMARKIT ORLANDO bookstores; Winter Garden Heritage Foundation, and Central Florida Railroad Museum in Winter Garden, FL.

Also available at Amazon.com and the Kindle Store

Visit also my Goodreads Group, “Florida History”

Ricks Blog resumes December 14, 2016

Part 8: Gertrude of Sanford

CATHERINE of Tallahassee

Catherine WILLIS married a Prince! Not at all a storybook tale, her true-life July 12, 1826 Tallahassee wedding was the start of an extraordinary new chapter in Florida’s history.

Catherine’s Tallahassee marriage was to Prince Charles Napoleon Achilles MURAT, son of the King of Naples. Their wedding created an American nobility in Florida’s panhandle, two decades before the US Territory became a State.

Princess Catherine (WILLIS) Murat

Following the French revolt of 1830, the Murat’s travelled to Europe, stopping in London to pay a visit to Lord Dudley STUART. An English politician, Stuart had married Princess Christine, the daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1824. The two Christine’s shared a Napoleon heritage, and at a lavish gathering, given in honor of the Murat’s, Lady Stuart introduced her guest as, Catherine MURAT, “the niece of George Washington.”

At another London event, while viewing side by side photos of Napoleon and Washington at an art gallery, their host exclaimed, “Behold, in the Princess MURAT, the niece of both, a distinction which she alone can claim.” Catherine MURAT was indeed a niece of George Washington.

Princess Catherine Murat was the daughter of Colonel Byrd and Mary (Lewis) WILLIS of Tallahassee. The Willis family history speaks highly of their esteemed Princess, telling of Catherine’s journey to England, and stating she had returned home in advance of her husband, doing so, “under the protection of Mrs. PRINGLE, of South Carolina, a good American.”

Mrs. Pringle? The brother of Judith (MAYRANT) Pringle had died in 1757, leaving a four year old son. Judith raised her brother’s boy, John Mayrant, Jr. Years later, John Junior married Maria P. REES, a sister of Orlando Savage REES, a South Carolina Plantation owner and 1830s landowner of Florida’s Spring Garden Plantation in present day Volusia County. Catherine’s was a family rich in Florida history.

Florida’s pioneering family lines of Catherine (Willis) Murat run deep. Catherine’s father was appointed Pensacola Navy Agent, arriving in Florida Territory about the same time as the RANDOLPH family. A son, Lewis Willis, became a doctor, marrying first Harriet RANDOLPH, and second, Hester SAVAGE, as in the family of Orlando Savage Rees.

Catherine (Willis) Murat remained a prominent Tallahassee figure following the death of her husband in 1847. An 1858 Mount Vernon Ladies Association publication appointed her as Vice-Regent of the Florida Chapter, stating: “It may be interesting to know that this lady is the widow of Achilles Murat, son of the celebrated Marshal Joachim Murat, and brother-in-law of the first Emperor of France. She is also grand-niece of Washington, through the family of LEWIS.”

Mount Vernon Ladies Association rescued the original homestead of George Washington, and remains active in that cause to this very day.

“I walk along Tallahassee’s City of the Dead,” wrote traveler C. Vickerstaff Hine in 1891, writing of visiting the town’s Old City Cemetery. “At length, through the wicket-gate, I pass and am among memories of the past. Humble are many of these crumbling records. Others, obelisks of granite, tell of lives spent in marble halls, of life and social gayety. On one of these I read the inscription, “Prince Murat, King of Naples. The lofty monument to this fallen great one tells me that he lies beneath my feet. Near to this monument is another monument, a little lower than the first, as if, even in death, showing wifely submission. It is the monument that marks the last resting-place of the wife of Prince Murat, of the King of Naples, and appropriately, this monument marks the grave of a daughter of the Republic, born, as the inscription tells me, in the Old Dominion.”

Catherine (Willis) Murat resided at PARTHENOPE, the Murat Plantation in Tallahassee that she and her Prince established in 1823. Like that of the short-lived Greek colony of the same name in Prince Murat’s hometown of Naples, for which their Florida plantation had been named, Murat’s plantation too was short-lived. America’s Civil War ended the reign of Florida plantations. With the passing of her home, Catherine of Tallahassee died, and she was laid to rest in 1867, alongside her Prince.

The role of women in history is not easily found, but it’s a challenge gladly undertaken by the author of CitrusLAND books. The true-life American story, including the story of Florida, can only be told through the lineal descendants of the earliest pioneers, men and women alike. Each of twelve chapters in my CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise, Second Edition, begins with a dedication and brief biography of a central Florida Frontierswoman.

Telling the story of Florida through its people, CitrusLAND is described in detail at my website: www.croninbooks.com

CitrusLAND books are available at BOOKMARKIT ORLANDO bookstores; Winter Garden Heritage Foundation, and Central Florida Railroad Museum in Winter Garden, FL.

Also available at Amazon.com and the Kindle Store

Join my Goodreads Group: “Florida History” – It’s FREE!

Ricks Blog resumes November 30, 2016

Part 7: Mary of Palatka

FRANCIE MABEL of Sarasota & Venice

Part 5: FRANCIE M of Sarasota & Venice

FLORIDA'S FORGOTTEN FGRONTIERSWOMEN

Sarasota historians fondly recall pioneer Joseph H. Lord. He is remembered as a major Sarasota County landowner and town developer. The Sarasota County History Center says Lord owned, by 1904, four corners of their town’s historic Five Points intersection. Lord reportedly built First Bank and Trust Company, Sarasota’s first ever ‘skyscraper,’ and eventually owned 70,000 acres throughout Sarasota County. Said to have first visited Sarasota in 1890, little of the man’s pre-Gulf Coast story has been recorded prior to now.

Three years before visiting Sarasota, Attorney Joseph H. Lord, in 1887, was an attorney residing near Lake Ivanhoe in Orlando. Certainly worthy of credit for his many Florida development accomplishments, to fully appreciate the Maine native one must also learn of the remarkable woman behind the Sarasota developer. Mrs. Lord, it turns out, was already selling Florida real estate when she married Joseph. As single gal in central Florida, Francie Mabel Webber resided on a parcel platted by her father.

Frank R. and Sarah O. Webber, parents of Francie, began acquiring Orange County property in 1884. Within a year, at age 22, their daughter Francie was also investing in land, nearly 50 acres to be exact. Her parcels were scattered throughout the county.

1886 Survey of Orlando & Winter Park Railway
South shore of Lake Ivanhoe, west of Lake Highland 

In 1886, a survey for the Orlando & Winter Park Railway (see photo) showed adjoining lots in FAIR OAKS subdivision north of the city of Orlando. One lot was owned by Mrs. F. W. Lord (circled in red), while the adjacent lot owned by her parents, Frank & Sarah Webber (also circled in red). Francie Mabel Webber had married at the time of the 1886 railroad plat, and she then took the name Francie Webber Lord.

Francie, daughter of Frank R. and Sarah O. Webber, had been born at St. Albans, Maine August 28, 1862. She married Joseph Lord August 22, 1885. Joseph, born December 8, 1859, was a native of Wells, York County, Maine.

Francie’s parents had become Florida snowbirds. Her father started buying Orange County property in 1884. Orange County Gazetteer of 1887 listed Frank Webber as an Orange Grower, and identified Joseph Lord as an Attorney, residing at Lake Ivanhoe. Frank R. Webber platted his land on the south shore of Lake Ivanhoe as a subdivision, naming the 1886 community, FAIR OAKS.

Then came Florida’s freeze in the winter of 1894-95. Like most every Orange County resident, the Lord’s lost their land. The final land sale by Mrs. Lord was recorded in late 1893. Francie’s mother, Widow Sarah Webber, relocated with her daughter and son-in-law further south, to the Sarasota-Bradenton area, arriving in 1897. A son, Joseph H. Lord, Jr., was born in the Sarasota region September 1, 1898.

Francie Mabel (Webber) Lord had participated in central Florida’s development in the mid-1880s and early 1890s. Following a devastating freeze in1895, her family moved further south, where her Attorney husband evolved as a major developer during the first days of Sarasota County.

By 1912, the Lord’s had become snowbirds as well. By then residents of Evanston, ILL, headquarters of the Sarasota-Venice Land Company, a company Joseph H. Lord managed, the Lord’s maintained homes in Florida and Illinois.

Francie (Webber) Lord died at Chicago, on the 9^th day of April, 1936. Joseph died eight months later, December 24, 1936. Both were buried at Manasota Memorial Park in Bradenton.

Grave marker at Manasota Memorial Park, Bradenton, FL

Florida history remembers Joseph H. Lord, but fact is, the Lord’s work in Florida, (pun intended) should really be remembered as a husband/wife team effort.

The role of women in history is not easily found, but it’s a challenge gladly undertaken by the author of CitrusLAND books. The true-life American story, including the story of Florida, can only be told through the lineal descendants of the earliest pioneers, men and women alike. Each of twelve chapters in my CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise, Second Edition, begins with a dedication and brief biography of a central Florida Frontierswoman. The people of Florida are an important and integral part of all my Florida books.

Telling the story of Florida through its people, CitrusLAND is described in detail at my website: www.croninbooks.com

CitrusLAND books are available at BOOKMARKIT ORLANDO bookstores; Winter Garden Heritage Foundation, and Central Florida Railroad Museum in Winter Garden, FL.

Also available at Amazon.com and the Kindle Store

Join my Goodreads Group: “Florida History” – It’s FREE!

Ricks Blog resumes November 16, 2016

Part 6: Catherine of Tallahassee

References available upon request to Rick@CroninBooks.com

IRENE of SANIBEL ISLAND

Part 4: Florida's Forgotten Frontierswomen

IRENE (Cook) Rutland - Shanahan of SANIBEL ISLAND

Three (3) days before her 83^rd birthday, Irene SHANAHAN, then a 53 year resident of Sanibel Island, passed away in Lee County. Her October 29, 1950 obituary in Fort Myers News-Press described the Shanahan family as having been “noted for the hospitality extended to visitors and excursions parties which made the trip to the island in the days before Fort Myers Beach became popular as a resort.”

A “popular” tourist spot now, Irene’s residency on Sanibel dated to a time when the remote island served as home to farmers and a historic lighthouse. At the time of Irene’s death in 1950, she had been a widow of Henry Shanahan for 37 years. Henry had served as the island’s lighthouse keeper from 1889 until the year of his death in 1913.

Married in 1904, Henry Shanahan was Irene’s second husband. But little else had ever been recorded of Irene’s early years. She first appears on the island at age 33 in the 1900 Sanibel census. At that time Irene was a widow as well. Born in Montgomery AL in 1867, Irene had been, by 1900, a twenty year central Florida resident.

Where was Irene prior to 1900? The Florida frontierswoman’s story spans two uniquely different Florida centuries. Mrs. Shanahan of the 20^th century, born Miss Irene COOK, became Mrs. Rutland during the State’s developing 19^th Century, while central Florida was commonly being referred to as an American Paradise.

The amazing Irene of Sanibel arrived on the island long before regular ferry service. As a young mother of five (5) children, all born in the 19^th century, Irene had also migrated years earlier to central Florida, prior to the first train arriving at CitrusLAND.  

Cook - Rutland of Central Florida:

At age 13 in 1880, Irene was living in remote Sumter County with her parents. Robert & Nancy COOK, all Alabama natives. Like most every resident of central Florida then, her father farmed citrus on the family’s 160 acre homestead.

Also living in Sumter County at the time, near the town of YALAHA on Lake Harris, now part of Lake County, was a 24 year old lad named Othman RUTLAND. Othman lived with and worked for a cousin, Miles STEWART, on a nearby Sumter County grove. In 1885, Miss Irene Cook married Othman Rutland.

The Rutland’s set up home and started a family along the west shore of Lake Apopka. In addition to farming, Othman and his cousin Miles were also active in founding the city of WEST Apopka, a tiny village today known as Ferndale.

On the east side of Lake Apopka is the city of Apopka, where for a time in the 1880s Othman’s only surviving sibling, Sarah Katherine (Rutland) VICK, lived with her husband, Ezekiel C. Vick, who was also a citrus farmer.

West Apopka of Sumter (now Lake) County:

Five Rutland children were born to Othman and Irene at West Apopka: Pearlie May (1886-1937); Sarah K (1888-1966); Clarence O. (1890-1982); Isaac N. (1892-1916); (Isaac Newton Rutland died at age 24, and is buried on Sanibel Island. His grave marker today is the only raised tombstone on the entire island); and Marguerite (1894-?).

Small cemetery on Sanibel Island includes tombstone of Isaac Newton Rutland

Florida’s Great Freeze during the winter of 1894-95 destroyed not only the crop, it killed most orange trees in central Florida as well, wiping out most orange farmers. Ezekiel and Othman were no exception, and so both families lost everything.

Wiped out financially, the Rutland and Vick families together departed central Florida, and relocated to Sanibel Island.

Starting anew on Sanibel Island:

At age 45 in 1900, Ezekiel C. Vick started over. He was employed as a farm laborer on Sanibel Island. Listed as family 286 in the census, the Vick family lived next door to a Widow. Family 285 was Irene Rutland and her four fatherless children.

Othman Rutland signed away his Sumter County property in 1897, and died between 1897 and 1900. His death remains a mystery of Florida history to this day.

Widow Irene remarried at Sanibel Island in 1904. Her second marriage was to Widower Henry Shanahan. At age 38, she gave birth to a son, Gunnell Shanahan, born on Sanibel Island.

The Vick family returned to central Florida, living out their lives at Oakland, in West Orange County. Irene, and children by two marriages, remained at Sanibel. The home of a son by her first marriage, Clarence Othman Rutland, is today part of Sanibel Island’s local museum complex.

The Rutland House is part of the Sanibel Island museum complex

Footnote about Othman Rutland, first husband of Irene Cook: Born 1856 on the east bank of Orange County’s Wekiva River, presently Seminole County, Othman was a son of Isaac Newton & Margaret (Staten) Rutland.

A 4 year old boy in a family of 6 in 1860, by 1870, the four Rutland children had become orphans, sent to live with their grandmother in Georgia. Two Rutland children returned to central Florida in the late 1870s, Othman and his sister, Sarah K. (Rutland) Vick. The Rutland Mule Matter, by Richard Lee Cronin, is a historical novel based on the true-life story of how the Rutland family was torn apart by the Civil War. Main characters in The Rutland Mule Matter include Othman, his wife Irene (Cook), Othman’s sister, Sarah Katherine (Rutland) Vick, and Sarah’s husband, Ezekiel C. Vick.

The role of women in history is not easily found, but it’s a challenge gladly undertaken by the author of CitrusLAND books. The true-life American story can only be told through the lineal descendants of the earliest pioneers, men and women alike. Each of twelve chapters in CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise, Second Edition, starts off with a dedication and brief biography of a Florida Frontierswoman.

Telling the story of Florida through its people, CitrusLAND books are described in detail at my website: www.croninbooks.com

Available at BOOKMARKIT ORLANDO bookstores; Winter Garden Heritage Foundation and the Central Florida Railroad Museum in Winter Garden, Florida, and Amazon.com.

Join my Goodreads Group FREE: “Florida History”

Ricks Blog resumes November 2, 2016

Part 5: Francie of Sarasota & Venice

Two LAURA'S & their FORT REID Secret

Special Orange County Library Edition

Local Authors Book Festival

October 16, 2016

Downtown Orlando Library, 2-4 PM 

Special Edition Blog: Florida’s Forgotten Frontierswomen

Orlando, and ghost town sister city Fort Reid of Seminole County, competed in the 1850s for the coveted title, Orange County Seat of Government. A tiny Four (4) acre village of Orlando of course was the victor, and the then much larger Fort Reid, a town planned in excess of 120 acres, lost more than merely its desire to be a 19^th century central Florida hub. Located at Mile 1.5 on an old forts trail, a/k/a First Road to Orlando, the want-to-be city of Fort Reid lost much of its rich heritage as well.

A mystery to this day, historians disagree as to the true scope of this place called Fort Reid. Originally a 1840s fortress, among its earliest settlers had been a soldier who built a residence beside the fortress. By 1851, the first traces of a settlement named Fort Reid began to appear at this site. Five years later, evidence suggests a major Florida town, an Orange County Seat of Government, was being planned for this settlement.

Florida history is often a mystery until genealogy is added to the mix. Pioneer family lines are typically easier to research for the male, but genealogy of frontierswomen quite often holds the keys to unlocking the true story of a region’s earliest days. One case in point: Two Laura’s and their Fort Reid Secret!

History blurred after county surveyors made a huge blunder in 1890. The mistake did not pertain to layout or property corners, rather a town’s spelling. Reid was printed as Reed. As a result, historians of the 20^th century often believed archives suggested there were two different places. But Fort Reid and Reed were one in the same!

On the 3^rd of December, 1874, in far off Albemarle County, VA, a husband and wife signed over rights to Orange County property. An intriguing deed, John W and Laura T Thompkins transferred 73.84 acres, described as being: “on the road to Orlando” (Blue Line at left). One-quarter of a mile of the road crossed the 73.84 acre site. The land went to family members: Speer, Brantley, & Doyle. The historical significance of this transaction has long been overlooked.

1850 Survey of Fort Reid / Mellonville Region
Blue line indicated path of FIRST ROAD TO ORLANDO 

Born 1837, John W. Thompkins had been a native of Virginia. His wife, Laura T Tompkins, stated in 1880 that she was born 1846 at New Hampshire. This 1880 census also asked birth places of each parent. John’s folks were born in Virginia. Laura’s father according to the census was born in New Hampshire. Her mother however stated she had been born in “Florida.” 

William H Farrah was the father of Laura. Her mother, Laura C. Hart, was born 1823 at Jacksonville, Florida. Fort Reid’s plot begins to thicken.

Laura C. Hart was a daughter of Jacksonville, Florida founder, Isaiah D. Hart. In December, 1874, she was also Isaiah’s only surviving child. Laura C. Hart’s sister, Julia A. Hart, had died at Jacksonville, Florida in 1871. What, one might ask, does any of this family history have to do with a little 19^th century ghost town nearly 150 miles south of Jacksonville? The answer is relatively simple when genealogy is added.

For one brief moment in time, from late 1853 until her husband’s death in 1857, Julia A. Hart was the second wife of Algernon S. Speer, one of Orange County Florida’s earliest settlers. Four children by Algernon S. Speer’s first marriage: Arthur, Algernon Jr, Ella Brantley and Mary Doyle, each received clear title in 1874 on land located at old Fort Reid from Laura Tompkins, only surviving descendant by the father’s second marriage.

Jacksonville town founder, Isaiah D. Hart, became Algernon’s father-in-law in 1853. One year later, all land east of St. Johns River became part of a newly formed Volusia County. Algernon’s first father-in-law, Arthur Ginn, Orange County’s Clerk of Court then, lived on part of the 73.84 acres sold in 1855 to Isaiah D. Hart.

Clerk of Court & Fort Reid resident Arthur Ginn was, in 1855, taking care of Orange County official business.

Algernon S. Speer, joining forces with two father in laws, hatched the idea of establishing their community as a county seat. Isaiah D. Hart, an experienced town founder who had clout in Tallahassee, then purchased the 74 acres adjacent to and north of 160 acres belonging to the 1840s soldier and Fortress Reid settler, Augustus J. Vaughn. Planning their city was next.

Fort Reid planners were soon outsmarted though by a family promising 4 acres for the site of a courthouse. In 1857, the year Algernon S. Speer drowned on his way upriver to Jacksonville, Orlando became County Seat. Isaiah and his daughter, Widow Julia A. Hart, moved back to Jacksonville. Four years later, in 1861, the year the Civil War began, Isaiah D. Hart died. His daughter, Julia, died in 1871.

Hart’s land was situated on the west side of Mellonville Road, shown at right in the photo. The Tompkins 1874 deed transferred ownership to local Speer descendants.

Mellonville Road (First Road to Orlando)
In vicinity of old Fort Reid

The first-ever train departed out of Sanford, bound for Orlando, November 11, 1880, traveling on track laid a mile west of the original First Road to Orlando. Fort Reid eventually merged into Sanford, and overtime the true role the fortress area played in the developing story of central Florida became muddled.

Laura T. Tompkins, after relinquishing property rights in 1874 to a Florida landmass known as Fort Reid, died April 28, 1926 in West Virginia. Although there is no record of her ever stepping foot in Fort Reid, Laura most certainly played an important role in documenting one portion of central Florida’s fascinating history.

About my series, Florida’s Forgotten Frontierswomen:

The role of women in history is not easily learned, yet discovery is a task gladly undertaken by this CitrusLAND author. America’s true-life story can only be told through the lineal descendants of early pioneers, both men and women. Each of chapter in my CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise starts off with a dedication to one of the many Florida Frontierswomen. Additional frontierswomen are also featured twice monthly in Rick’s 2016 Fall Blog series. Telling Florida’s story through its remarkable people, each CitrusLAND book is described in detail at my website: www.croninbooks.com

First Road to Orlando is one of five books detailing the amazing founders, and their family heritage. My books are also available at BOOKMARKIT ORLANDO bookstores; Winter Garden Heritage Foundation and Central Florida Railroad Museum in Winter Garden, Florida. Also available at Amazon.com

Hope to see you at the library Sunday!

Rick’s Blog Part 3: October 19, 2016, Irene of Sanibel Island

For details on how to follow Rick’s Blog Series, visit

WWW.CRONINBOOKS.COM

REBECCA of Madison County's OAKLAND

Florida's Forgotten Frontierswomen

Part 2: REBECCA of Madison County’s OAKLAND

Florida history often remains a mystery because notable frontierswomen have been left out of the State’s true-life story. Such is true throughout Florida, but especially apparent in the State’s Panhandle, home to courageous women who of course counted among the Territory’s earliest founders even before Statehood in 1845.

A family of Dozier women are prime examples. Nine miles south of the city of Madison, along Sundown Creek Road, there exists a tiny rural cemetery doubling today as a cow pasture. Of those buried at the two acre cemetery was the landowner, Honorable John C. McGehee. An Attorney, plantation owner, and Florida statesman. McGehee served as President of Florida’s 1861 Secession Convention.

McGehee’s notoriety however obscures a noble family this man married into. In fact, he might not have moved to Florida had it not been for his in-laws. Mrs. McGehee, also buried at Old Oakland Cemetery, was Charlotte (Dozier) McGehee, born at Abbeville, SC. Charlotte died in 1858 at Madison County.

Old Oakland Cemetery, Madison, Madison county, Florida

Prior to Statehood, Florida’s Panhandle had become home to kinfolk relocating from a present day Ghost Town of Hamburg, SC. Located across the Savannah River from Augusta, Benjamin F. Whitner I, a prominent Hamburg, SC businessman, relocated to Madison County in the 1830s. Today, a Madison County Ghost Town of Hamburg is testament to a South Carolina clan who had attempted to tame this wilderness.

Whitner’s wife was a sister of Rebecca (Spann) Dozier, the mother of four children, one son and three daughters, all of whom settled as adults at Madison County, Florida.

In a demanding wilderness of Florida’s Panhandle, the youngest Dozier, Rebecca, had owned in excess of 500 acres southwest of the town Madison. Her sister, Amelia Ann Dozier, died soon after arriving in Florida. Amelia was the first wife of James E. Broome, Florida’s 3^rd Governor. A third Dozier daughter, Charlotte, married Florida Secessionist, John C. McGehee.

Florida’s forgotten frontierswomen were as important players in this developing State as their male counterparts. While most gals married and took on a new surname, pioneers such as Rebecca Dozier, a single women and owner of a 500 acre homestead, provide a surname and pathway to uncovering the rest of Florida’s story.

Spreading out from Florida’s Panhandle, lineal descendants of Dozier and Spann moved to many other parts of the developing State. Traces of this family, for example, are found in post-Civil War Central Florida. Attorney John Dozier Broome, son of Governor James & Amelia (Dozier) Broome, had settled at Volusia County, in De Land, by the 1880s.

Oakland Cemetery is surrounded by rural land once farmed by Rebecca Dozier and her sister Amelia’s father-in-law, Rev. John S. Broome, the father of Florida’s 3rd Governor, James E. Broome. At this exact remote country location, during the year 1840, a son was born to the brother of Governor James E. Broome.

That boy, Robert W. Broome, became a Lake City, Florida Attorney after the Civil War. In 1875, this Broome travelled deep into the heart of yet another Florida wilderness. At age 35, he followed a dirt trail 22 miles south of Lake Monroe, called together the local landowners, and incorporated the 18 year old village of Orlando. After incorporating the town, Broome vanished from central Florida.

The village of Orlando had been established October 5, 1857 – the final day in office of Florida’s 3^rd Governor, James E. Broome.  

The history of Florida is far more than merely a series of dated events. Amazing people, courageous men and women alike, took on a challenge of their life - to build a home in a difficult land. Very often, the challenge cost them their life. Amelia Ann Dozier died at age 25, two years after arriving in the Florida Territory. Despite Yellow Fever and the harsh surroundings, younger sister Rebecca Dozier refused to give up on her dream. She and many others like her forged a new land in Florida’s Panhandle.

Their proud descendants then continued the story all throughout the 27^th State in our Union of States.

Watch for the story of HAMBURG, FLORIDA, coming soon to my Ghost Towns Blog.

The role of women in history is not easily found, but it’s a challenge gladly undertaken by this author of CitrusLAND books. The true-life American story can only be told through the lineal descendants of the earliest pioneers, men and women alike. Each of twelve chapters in my CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise begins with a dedication and brief biography of a Florida Frontierswoman. Telling the story of Florida through its people, CitrusLAND books are described in detail at my website: www.croninbooks.com

Available at BOOKMARKIT ORLANDO bookstores; Winter Garden Heritage Foundation and Central Florida Railroad Museum in Winter Garden, Florida, and Amazon.com    

#RicksFFFBlog resumes October 19, 2016

Part 3: Irene of Sanibel Island

LADY PHILOCLEA of TALLAHASSEE

Florida's Forgotten Frontierswomen: Part 1

First Lady PHILOCLEA of #Tallahassee

PHILOCLEA Alston (Fisher) HOLLISTER, granddaughter of Tallahassee, Florida’s First Lady, PHILOCLEA (Alston) WALKER, each a 19^th century resident of Florida, descended from an amazing American family. Their PHILOCLEA heritage begins my Fall Blog Series: Florida’s Forgotten Frontierswomen.

A Legacy having roots at Sparta, Georgia:

“In 1853,” wrote Mount Vernon Ladies Association of its origin, “Louise Bird Cunningham was traveling the Potomac River and passed by Mount Vernon in the moonlight. Struck by its appearance, and fearing it would soon be lost to the nation for lack of upkeep,” Ann Pamela Cunningham, daughter of Louise, founded Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Ann then challenged women of the South to preserve Washington’s homestead, and her southern movement quickly spread to a national undertaking. Her organization continues to this day.

George Washington's Mount Vernon, preserved by Mount Vernon Ladies' Association

The Mount Vernon Record, February 1860, explains how the ladies organization got its 1854 start after two woman made a sizeable donation: “Mrs. Bird of SPARTA, GA and Mrs. W. J. Eve of Augusta, GA” were those two initial contributors. Mrs. Bird of Sparta was Frances Pamela (Casey) Bird, wife of James Wilson BIRD. Mrs. W. J. Eve was PHILOCLEA (Casey) Eve.

A family helped launched efforts to rescue Mount Vernon: Frances Bird and Philoclea Eve were sisters. Ann Cunningham’s mother, Louisa BIRD Cunningham, was a younger sister of James Wilson BIRD. The preservation of George Washington’s homestead took root at Sparta, Georgia. PHILOCLEA Eve served as the Georgia Vice-Regent of the Ladies Association.

Tracing American history via Lady Philoclea:

PHILOCLEAN Society is among the oldest student organizations of New Jersey’s celebrated RUTGERS University. Founded in 1825, the society says the name Philoclean is Greek for, “Old Glory.” But twelve years before Rutgers established the organization, John & Sarah CASEY, in 1813, celebrated the birth of their third child, a daughter they named PHILOCLEA.

Both parents died while Philoclea was a little girl, so the daughter moved to Savannah, GA, where she lived with a brother, Dr. John A. Casey. At age of 27, Philoclea Edgeworth Casey married William J. EVE. The October 17, 1840 wedding is said to have taken place at SPARTA, Georgia.

A second PHILOCLEA was also born in SPARTA in 1820, to Robert & Henrietta (Green) ALSTON. The Alston’s later moved to Tallahassee, FL, where Philoclea Alston married, in 1842, David S. Walker. St. John’s Episcopal Church of Tallahassee provides a pamphlet for touring its church and grounds, and this booklet explains the “south figurative window of the church depicts the Virgin and Child, and is a memorial to PHILOCLEA Alston Walker, wife of David Shelby Walker, the eighth governor of Florida.”

Where did the English use of PHILOCLEA originate?

As early as 1800, American newspapers started promoting a literary work entitled ‘Practical Education.’ Written by highly acclaimed English author, Maria EDGEWORTH (1767-1849), her inspirational writings included a collection of ‘Letters for Literary Ladies,” writings widely touted as being a plea for reforming women’s education.

Maria Edgeworth and her father, Richard Lovell Edgeworth (I), became early advocates of educating young women at a time in history when females weren’t always privy to schooling.

Philoclea Edgeworth (Casey) EVE, born in America during 1813, had been a daughter of immigrants John CASEY and PHILOCLEA EDGEWORTH. Both parents relocated from Edgeworthtown, Longford, Ireland. Immigrant Philoclea Edgeworth, wife of John Casey, was born circa 1760, six years after the debut of a McNamara Morgan play entitled, “PHILOCLEA, a Tragedy.”

The father of famed authoress Maria Edgeworth was Richard Lovell Edgeworth, and his family roots trace to Longford, Ireland.

Authoress Maria Edgeworth and her father have roots in Longford, Ireland. She wrote of being of lineal descent to Sir John, and wrote too of a brother, Richard Lovell Edgeworth II, who died in America. Her brother’s will was probated in Anson County, North Carolina in 1792.

American history via Lady Philoclea:

A family’s use of the name PHILOCLEA assists in recreating a chapter of America’s remarkable story. The Edgeworth family arrived from Ireland, settled in the South, and played a vital role in taming a wilderness. The SPARTA, GA Historical Society website includes a photo of ALSTON-Wiley House, a historic home that includes this description: “Built prior to 1820 by Robert West Alston. The house was expanded by Captain Richard Bolling Baxter.”

A North Carolina native, Robert West Alston relocated as a married man to Sparta, GA with his wife prior to 1820. Prior to Florida’s Statehood in 1845, the Alston family moved again, this time to Tallahassee, FL. Richard Baxter, a grandson of Frances Pamela (Casey) Bird, and a great-grandson of immigrant, Philocea Edgeworth, eventually became owner of the Alston-Wiley home.

Robert & Henrietta Alston relocated to Tallahassee, where a daughter, PHILOCLEA Alston, married David Shelby Walker. A lawyer, Walker was active in early Florida politics. He initially opposed Florida Secession, and following the War, on December 20, 1865, Florida First Lady Philoclea Alston Walker watched as her husband was sworn in as the eighth Florida Governor.

One of nine living children, Philoclea Alston arrived with her parents in a rugged wilderness having fewer than 1,700 residents. Tallahassee was then merely an isolated town in a Territory known as Florida. Philoclea married at Tallahassee three (3) years prior to Statehood. Four years after Florida’s Statehood, Robert & Henrietta Alston’s daughter Florida (Alston) Fisher made them proud grandparents of a baby girl, Philoclea A. Fisher.

Hugh T. Fisher was appointed Tampa Postmaster in 1850. The population of Tampa had yet to reach 1,000 then, but at age 1, Philoclea Alston Fisher became one of the earliest residents of a developing CitrusLAND.     

Florida First Lady, Philoclea Alston Walker, died at Tallahassee May 7, 1868. A year after her grandmother’s death, Philoclea Alston (Fisher) Hollister, gave birth to her first child in Nebraska. Never to return to Florida, the last known Philoclea of the Edgeworth family would spend half of her life as a widow before dying October 7, 1912 in North Bend, Oregon.

About this Blog Series:

The role of women in history is not easily found, but it’s a challenge gladly undertaken by this author of CitrusLAND books. The true-life American story can only be told through the lineal descendants of the earliest pioneers, men and women alike. Each of twelve chapters in my CitrusLAND: Curse of Florida’s Paradise begins with a dedication and brief biography of a Florida Frontierswoman. Telling the story of Florida through its people, CitrusLAND books are described at my website: www.croninbooks.com

Available at BOOKMARKIT ORLANDO bookstores; Winter Garden Heritage Foundation and Central Florida Railroad Museum in Winter Garden, Florida, and Amazon.com     

#RicksFFFBlog resumes October 5, 2016

Part 2: Rebecca of Madison County’s Oakland

References available upon request: Email Rick@CroninBooks.com